Villarreal dreams for a while but ends up giving up against Liverpool

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Villarreal dreamed for a while that it could be in the final.

Unai Emery's team did the most difficult, capable of matching the 2-0 they had brought from Anfield, in an excellent first half that they could not continue after the break.

Liverpool's reaction in the second half allowed them to also take the second leg (2-3) and left the people from Castellón with honey on their lips, but with their heads held high after having shown that they are up to the best of Europe.

The Estadio de la Cerámica is not Anfield but the atmosphere that was generated on the pitch was the first stone on which Villarreal built their comeback.

Pushed through some bursting stands,

's team showed a totally different image than the one offered a week ago in the first leg, as did Liverpool.

One team and the other exchanged their roles, with Villarreal commanding, pressing up, recovering quickly and taking the ball quickly into the area against a dwarfed English team and perhaps surprised by the response of a rival who had barely raised their voice at Anfield.

It also helped his, logically, to score after three minutes.

said

in the preview that there was no script for the comeback but scoring the first goal as soon as possible is one of the first things that would appear on the list.

Villarreal, who in the 90 minutes in England only shot once on goal and it was offside, took advantage of the first one they had to further light the flame of hope.

It was precisely

, author of that shot at Anfield, who opened the scoring after a cross from Estupiñán to which

put his foot, it is not very clear whether to finish off or to prolong.

The demolition of Lo Celso

The goal reinforced the plan of a Villarreal who wanted to be the protagonist and who had a footballer last night who he missed a lot in Liverpool.

's return to eleven

gave Emery's team many more options when it came to the ball, something that cost him horrors in the first leg.

The Catalan lowers the ball, holds it, distributes it or continues the play himself.

Or he gives away passes like the one that came close to making it 2-0.

Klopp's team lost the ball and Gerard quickly sent it into the area to leave

against

.

The Argentine was knocked down before the departure of the Brazilian goalkeeper but what seemed like a clear penalty was not even reviewed by the VAR.

Apart from Gerard, Villarreal as a whole was much more reminiscent of Bayern than Anfield, bordering on excellence in all its lines.

Albiol emerged as the great quarterback of the defense giving a lesson on how to stop a danger like

.

He also helped Klopp's decision to place the Senegalese in the band, where he did not appear so much, to place

as a reference above , who went completely unnoticed.

It didn't take long for the German to back down, replacing him at half-time with Luis Díaz, who started the first leg.

The Liverpool player Konaté, during the match.Biel AliñoEFE

The other big problem for Liverpool was that the scenario was not so favorable to their pressure and counterattack football.

Barely reaching the goal, he could not press Villarreal's ball out, but he threw his lines up, forcing losses on the English team with a stellar Capoue, who was also the protagonist in the action with which the yellows equalized the tie.

The Frenchman won the baseline and on the half turn he hung the ball to the far post, where Coquelin rose to head the squad.

Fabinho started the comeback

Emery's men had done the most difficult, minimizing a Liverpool that, however, had not said their last word.

The panorama changed completely after the break, when the best version of

's team reappeared against a Villarreal who gave the feeling of having been emptied in their meritorious comeback.

Now it was the 'reds' who were in charge and anticipated in almost all the plays, enclosing the castellonenses in their field and beginning to generate danger after a first half in which they had not shot on goal.

Díaz began to make mischief down the left flank and Alexander-Arnold sent the first warning with a shot from the edge of the box that crashed into the crossbar after hitting Coquelin.

A couple of shots by Thiago and Luis Díaz were the prelude to a goal by

, who teamed up with Salah, penetrated the area and beat Rulli with a cross shot.

The blow did a lot of damage to a Villarreal that fell apart and no longer reacted, leaving the way clear for the comeback of a Liverpool that played at will.

headed in an Alexander-Arnold cross to equalize and shortly after

got rid of Rulli and Foyth to score in an empty net and seal Liverpool's place in the final.

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